[ serenely: ] There is nothing quite like looking directly into one's own imminent death, to make one want to survive.

[ he breezes past the mention of Fitzgerald without a flicker of hesitation. it was... unfortunate, but it was nothing that Ion hadn't expected. on the contrary, he was only proven terribly correct in his assessment of the others here, their situation. ]

I might hazard that you have found something of the same, considering how well you seem to have regrouped.